The Pentagon steps up its pitch for a record $1.5 trillion defense budget. Some GOP senators say the push came months too late.

Briefing note: the Pentagon has stepped up its effort to sell Congress on President Trump's record $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal 2027, but some Republican senators worry the push came too late to build the coalition it needs, The Hill reports. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, comptroller Jules Hurst and Christopher Mahoney, vice chair of the Joint Chiefs, briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee in a classified session Thursday. Feinberg and Mahoney briefed Senate defense appropriators on Wednesday and their House counterparts the week before. The request comes in layers. Beyond the $1.5 trillion budget, the White House asked in June for an $87 billion supplemental, including $67 billion to replenish munitions used up in the Iran war and other operating costs, and it has looked to pass $350 billion through reconciliation, a window that narrows as the midterms approach. The House passed a $95 billion package in July. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said the administration "has not done a good job of understanding" that even the basic appropriations bill "still takes 60 votes in the Senate to get it done," though he said Thursday's session helped. Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., a former Navy SEAL, said the pitch was tailored to Democrats skeptical of the Iran war, but "I think [it] would have been better had we started this seven, eight months ago and building up and building that coalition." Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., wants a list of the Pentagon's funding priorities: "I'm going to keep pushing for that." Assessment: Congress funds priorities, not totals. In 1950, lawmakers expanded defense spending sharply within months of North Korea's invasion of the South because the need was concrete. Replenishing munitions spent in a shooting war is the most urgent line here and likely the easiest to pass. A ranked list, as Fischer asks, would do more for this request than another briefing.